Surgery to the human body often requires the attachment of tissues adjacent one another such as in the repair of the knee. The human knee joint contains a pair of cartilage pads which function to absorb shock and prevent friction between the opposing bones in the joint. Each pad is called a meniscus. The two pads are referred to as the meniscal cartilage. One or both of these pads can become torn causing pain and debilitation. If these tears are not treated, further deterioration of the joint can occur. Past medical treatment involved excision of the torn cartilage, sometimes including complete removal of the meniscus. Complete removal of the meniscus has been shown to cause degenerative changes in the joint, often resulting in a joint replacement. Modem surgical treatment focuses on repair of the tissue rather than excision. The most popular method of treatment involves the use of arthoscopic means to access the joint. The devices used to repair the cartilage range from sutures to staples and tacks such as taught in U.S Pat. No. 5,059,206. Requirements that are common to all of these devices are the need for the device to hold the tom tissue in close apposition and for the device to resorb after the tissues have healed. Regarding the first requirement, sutures can be tightened to hold the tissues close together when first applied but the tension is variable between each stitch and the sutures will loosen with time. Staples can be difficult to place and once placed there is no ability to adjust the compression between the opposing surfaces of the tom cartilage. Regarding the second requirement, resorbtion, or dissolution over time, of the device removes the need for later removal of the device and also removes the possibility of the device interfering with the normal functioning of the cartilage if the device was not removed.